CONTRIBUTORS

Bruce Weber

For contributing photographer Bruce Weber, shooting the young men and women in VF.’s Next Generation portfolio felt “sort of like your first day of school and you’re asked to work as a photographer for the yearbook.” With that in mind, Weber says, “I wanted to do pictures that these kids could someday show their children or grandchildren—they find an old copy of Vanity Fair up in the attic—and say, ‘Oh yeah, that’s me when I was your age.’” The always busy Weber is currently working on a Film about the actor Robert Mitchum, a film for the Gordon Parks Foundation, and three short films about New York City; a book about dancer Roberto Bolle; and the ninth volume in his limited-edition “All-American” book series (from Little Bear Press).

Bob Colacello

Special correspondent Bob Colacello, pictured here with Lapo Elkann, spent more than a year working on the Next Generation portfolio, interviewing the impressive offspring of some of the world’s most prominent people in situ in London, New York City, Montauk, and the South of France. “What was refreshing about doing this piece,” says Colacello, “is that it felt as if [photographer] Bruce [Weber] and I were in a continuous process of discovery. While some of the choices—Ivanka Trump, Lapo—were more obvious, because they’ve accomplished so much already, the majority of the ‘kids,’ as I call them, are getting their first exposure.” Indeed, some were initially reluctant to participate. “These are not your usual publicity hounds,” Colacello says.

Aimée Bell

Deputy editor Aimee Bell coordinated this month’s Next Generation portfolio, which features portraits by Bruce Weber, an essay by Bob Colacello, and captions put together by Colacello, editorial associate Cassandra Handley, and contributor Tatiana Santo Domingo (who is also in the portfolio),“It was a surprisingly complicated undertaking,” says Bell, “because, contrary to what you might think, these kids don’t spend their days eating bonbons and driving Vespas. There are a lot of entrepreneurs here, people who want to prove themselves and make a difference.” Bell has been an editor at Vanity Fair for 17 years, working with columnists Christopher Hitchens and James Wolcott; writers Amy Fine Collins, Bruce Handy, Laura Jacobs, Fran Lebowitz, and Lisa Robinson; and contributors Reinaldo Herrera and Hilary Knight.

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Eleanor Squillari

“Never in my life would I have dreamed of doing something like this,” says Eleanor Squillari of co-authoring an article in Vanity Fair. She worked for two decades as Bernie MadoflTs secretary, and she tells her story (with the help of contributing editor Mark Seal) in ‘“Hello, Madoff!’ The Madoff Chronicles, Part II: What the Secretary Saw” (beginning on page 96). Looking back on her time with Madoff was difficult for Squillari at first. “At some point every day I was crying,” she says. “But getting all this stuff off my chest made me feel better, and I think that I’m doing a service to the clients by getting the information out.” Shortly after MadoflTs arrest, Squillari, pictured here (left) with Madoff's niece Shana Madoff, decided to change careers. She is studying to get her cosmetology license and is devoting herself to the handmadejewelry line she co-founded, Naturally Wired (sold at naturallywired.etsy.com).

Craig Brown

Satirist Craig Brown has parodied everyone from Her Majesty the Queen to Andy Warhol over the course of his 30-year career. In “Breakfast with Barack Obama,” page 94, Brown turns his gimlet eye on the president. “I felt his mockbiblical rhetoric, which one might term ‘retro-ric,’ was uplifting on the campaign trail but was fast becoming irritating,” Brown says.“I wanted to highlight the comical disparity between his airy optimism and the drab day-to-day problems confronting him—I found it easy and pleasing to slot windy phrases from his speeches with breakfast chitchat.”Brown is currently putting together a book of American parodies.

Edward Sorel

Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words, at least when that picture is by Edward Sorel. This month the famed illustrator and his friend and collaborator, Richard Lingeman, imagine the underworld during the recession, replete with grumbling trophy wives and indignant investors. “I’m a good illustrator, but I’m a better plagiarist,” says Sorel. “I’m always suspicious of the worthiness of my own ideas. But when I steal an idea from someone I admire, I know I’m at least working on something with a good pedigree.” The inspiration for “Hell in Crisis,” page 116, comes from Art Young’sInferno, a 1934 book by the left-wing cartoonist, in which hell is the symbol for capitalism.In May, Harmony Books publishes Certitude:A Profusely Illustrated Guide to Blockheads and Bullheads, Past and Present, written by Adam Begley and illustrated by Sorel.